Artists In The Attic at Christopher's 12/4/12

Excited to be joining the Christopher's Restaurant crew this Tuesday (12/4/12) for an artist craft show in the upstairs dining room from 5-8pm. The likes of Kate Jorgenson Bejarano, John Jorgenson, Peter, Melissa "Clark" Buttons, Abbey Schneider, Alyssa Jane Milne and yours truly. Many things will be there to feast your eyes on what these fantastic artists have been up to, mostly on sale for under $100 for some holiday shopping. Also, buy the artists drinks. They like drinks. After some collaboration between Alyssa Jane Milne and I, we have hatched a plan to represent ourselves as "Artists in the Attic." On occasion we get together and make stuff in my studio... that is in a barn... that is also kind of in the attic. With her background in design and screen printing and mine in painting and teaching, we want to see what kind of brilliant disasters we can create together. Watch out world! We are about to blow the roof off. At this show I will have my usual assortment of Mini Masterpieces, birch candle holders, the new silkscreen onesies, cards and magnets, some paintings and maybe a concrete leaf. Alyssa Jane will have hair accessories, day of the dead inspired painted busts and more.

Inspiration from Oaxacan Wood Carving

"It is easy to imagine a great painting, Yeats once said; the hard part is realizing it in materials. Inspired, stolen or imposed, "an idea is simply an idea, and anyone can have one," Jamie Santiago says. "It is the artisan who must use his talents to give it life. People can spout great ideas all day long, but most of them never leave the cantina.'" -page 37, Oaxacan Woodcarving, The Magic In The Trees, by Shepard Barbash Today I am inspired by the sculpture of the Mexican town of Oaxaca. From a small village of poor farmers came innovation and creativity. Using machetes, kitchen knives and pocket knives these artisans carve dynamic creatures, mermaids and day of the dead altars that are then expertly painted with bright patterns and dots. This is a piece by Mario Castellanos. If you have never seen this style of carving and painting, I highly recommend looking it up to brighten your day.

Monson Holiday Fair This Weekend

Come on down to memorial hall the weekend after Thanksgiving where I will be set up selling birch tree candle holders at $20 for a set of three, mini masterpieces for $25, silkscreen onesies and concrete birdbaths. I am usually set up next to the girl scouts as you walk into the building and to the left. My mom will be manning my table for a bit as I work in Sturbridge at Brush It Off on Saturday. The show is Saturday 9-4:30 and Sunday from 12-5. If you would like to order some birch candle holders just email me. They sell fast!

I've Gone International: Art Up In London

I have some great news, The Blue Belle Cafe in London, England has my mini-masterpieces on display and in the first night sold 4 of them. I guess the Brits get my humor. The Blue Belle holds monthly music jams, which are bathed in soft candle light with help from my birch candle holders. They have 12 of them at this point, which my uncle Christopher Newland guards with his life at the end of each night. From these pictures you can see my minis displayed, quite a few of them. The mosaic they are under was done by Erica Steencamp, the Cafe owner and friend. And in the other Chris Newland strikes a pose. If you would like to see the minis close up, look on my website under "Art" and "Mini Masterpieces"

Pictures of Feeding Tube Records Window

Andrea Newland Feeding Tube Records November 5 to 30, 2012 This group of work is a mix of different materials I am interested in- paint, fabric and mixed media. I approach quilting in a similar way to painting, arranging compositions by looking for shapes, colors, textures and patterns that are pleasing to the eye. With quilting I often start with a small section and it grows until it is large enough to join another piece. Eventually they all come together in a Queen sized quilt. The stretched pieces of quilt idea hatched when I couldn’t bear to loose a small idea to the bigger whole, so I decided to stretch it like a canvas as wall art. I also like to have an element of humor in my work. The large painting on paper completed in Florence, Italy, during semester abroad is entitled “Selfish Shellfish.” An oyster showing off it’s pearl like it were a tongue ring juxtaposed with a lady with a string of pearls slipping through her lips. “Everything Kitchen Sink” is a mixed media mess including a dollhouse porcelain sink I found on the street. Much of the buttons, rusty nails, string and dirt in this painting were swept up off the studio floor and mixed into the whirling dervish. The painting facing the front door, “Chapter 5: City Hall,” is an excerpt from an altered book I made, then drew and painted the two pages to become a larger painting. I draw inspiration from many different projects, playing with that crossover to try and create something that has never been seen before. Go check it out what this shop has to offer @: Go look at the work, buy and album and tell them I sent you. It will be up til about November 30th.

Ignore Everybody- Book by Hugh MacLeod

Checked out "Ignore Everybody- And 39 Other Keys to Creativity" by Hugh MacLeod from the Palmer Library. Check out where he has daily updates. A cartoonist, Hugh started making small drawings on the backs of business cards in pen. This is a great book for any creative type struggling with making it in the art world. Short chapters with illustrations peppered throughout, some are common sense and some come from years of trial and error. Chapters are titled things like, "If you can accept the pain, it cannot hurt you," "Nobody cares. Do it for yourself," and "The best way to get approval is not to need it." This book is a quick read and gave me alot to think about. Spent some time today taking pictures of work that wasn't on my site yet and uploading images. Spent time working on artist statement for the window I am going to hang tomorrow at the Feeding Tube Record Store. Made the decision to show more experimental work instead of playing it safe. Thanks for the kick in the ass, Hugh.